All Consuming Jealousy
by CarlileLovesAnime
Summary: "No, I'm not jealous," Tsuna said. "I just want her to stop talking to Hayato so he can come back over here and spend time with me." Dino blinked a few times. "You are jealous." 5927.


**So I'm sorry I haven't been all that active this summer – I swear I will post more stuff, especially updates to Stormy Skies, as soon as I can. Until then, here's some 5927. **

**I don't own KHR. **

She had dark chocolate curls, long legs, and Hayato Gokudera's full attention. The two of them still stood near the corner of the white-draped hors d'oeuvre table, as they had for at least half an hour now, deep in conversation, making eye-contact, using hand gestures. All while Tsuna watched from across the room.

Tsuna pressed is fist over his mouth. A man in a dark blue suit briefly stopped in the way of his line of sight; Tsuna leaned forward and continued to stare at the two until the man walked away.

He wondered what her name was. His eyebrows furrowed, making a deepening crease on his forehead, when he realized that the corners of Hayato's lips were curved ever-so-slightly upward – subtle, but no less disconcerting. The girl was smiling too. She had a baby face, symmetrical except for the little beauty mark between her right eye and her hairline. She wore shimmering pink lipstick and her eyes were brighter than a desert sky. Her smile accentuated everything attractive about her.

Trying his hardest to relax, to breathe, he grabbed the glass at his place and sipped from it. Dino sat in the chair next to Tsuna's and loosened his tie slightly. His eyes still held laughter in them from his last conversation.

"Just holding out until the main course comes, eh, Tsuna?" he said. Tsuna moved only a little.

Dino's grin changed. "Oh." He put his elbows on the table. "No one would stare at cream cheese puffs like that."

Tsuna turned his head slowly to look at the Cavallone boss. "Hi, Dino-san," he said with entirely fake enthusiasm.

"That girl talking to him…" Dino began – his voice was hushed so Tsuna had to lean close to him, "…Her name is Celeste Labriola. I've heard of her because her aunt is the boss of another organization in my town."

"So she is Italian," Tsuna mumbled as he brought his eyes back to her. He studied her for a minute before he asked, "What else do you know about her?"

Dino scowled. "You should forget about her and go get some punch or something. Meet new people, make connections," he suggested. "That's what this event is for. It's important you do that – you're the leader of the Vongola Family, after all."

Tsuna glanced back at Dino.

"You don't look like you're having the best time," Dino said. He added a nervous chuckle á la Takeshi Yamamoto.

"I don't have a good feeling about Celeste," Tsuna muttered.

"Why, are you jealous of her or something?" Dino took a swig of his ice water.

Tsuna shook his head and tried in vain to lighten his tone. "No, I'm not jealous," he said. "I just want her to stop talking to Hayato so he can come back over here and spend time with me."

Dino blinked a few times. "You are jealous."

The Vongola boss pouted, finally put his drink down, and fixed his eyes on the girl and his boyfriend again. They were still talking. Celeste looked prettier and prettier the more he saw; Hayato looked handsome, elegant, irresistible, as he always did.

After he fumed in silence for a few minutes, the girl started to fade out of his mind. His thoughts strayed to Hayato and all they had been through together and how much they meant to each other. The mix of logic and emotion came to a point and Tsuna figured, there was no way Hayato would leave him, for this girl or anyone, now or ever. He felt better.

Then the rage and envy came back all at once. Tenfold.

"Did you see that?" he whispered harshly in Dino's direction.

Dino turned to Tsuna, setting down the glass in his hand. "See what?"

"She made him laugh." He wanted to shout it, but couldn't. "It takes a whole heck of a lot to make him laugh. What did she say to him?"

"Maybe she told a joke," Dino said flatly.

Tsuna shook his head. "He has a real finicky sense of humor. If she told a joke, it would have to be very dry, and very funny, to make him laugh."

"I told you, man, don't worry about her. Forget her. Let Hayato talk to her. He has the right to. And you should go talk to someone else, about constructive things. The meal is coming out in less than an hour anyway, and everyone will have to sit back down, and you two are sitting together, so relax."

"But he's _my _boyfriend," Tsuna said, looking at Hayato again. "I was invited to this thing, and brought him as _my _date."

Dino hit Tsuna's back gently. "Yeah. Exactly. Don't be so possessive – you two will get plenty of time to talk later. What, is he not allowed to have friends?"

"No, he has friends. He can certainly have friends. I just don't want him to be friends with Celeste."

The hand came off Tsuna's back. "You trust him more than this," Dino sighed.

"Of course I do," Tsuna quipped.

"Then why do you care that he's talking to her?" Dino grabbed his water again and took a large gulp of it.

The blood inside Tsuna started to simmer at that. Somehow it made him feel even worse when it was said aloud. "I… I don't mind that he's talking to her," he said, faltering, blushing. He paused. "Although, I would like to know what they're talking about." He immediately faced Dino, who fidgeted in his seat, knowing that Tsuna had to have something on his mind now.

Tsuna barely hesitated in asking. "Dino-san, could you just go up there for a minute and spy on them, figure out what they're saying?" He brought his hands together. "Please? I can owe you a favor later."

Dino could feel himself break a sweat. He was 24 years old – he thought that all this teenage drama was gone from his life. Tsuna had always been very mature and down-to-earth for his age. Dino had never seen him act this way before, and had until now hoped that he would never have to.

"Why don't _you _just go up there and _join _the conversation yourself?" he said, making overt hand gestures.

"Because that's really awkward!" Tsuna said. "Besides, they're probably speaking Italian to each other. You're fluent in Italian. I only speak enough Italian to order a sandwich."

Dino met Tsuna's eyes with an equal plea. Then he sighed.

"Just walk up there and pretend to graze the hors d'oeuvres or something," Tsuna said. "I will do something to repay you, Dino-san. Trust me. Thank you so much for doing this."

"Yeah, yeah," Dino said. He rose from his seat and made his way to the table near which Hayato and Celeste were standing. Tsuna kept track of him him closely.

Dino ran his hand over the various foods and kept his head down.

"…Seriously, though, those guys are amazing live," Hayato said. "Have you ever seen them in concert?"

"Dude, _twice_," Celeste replied.

"Awesome. Isn't the drummer spectacular?"

"He is! It was mesmerizing to watch him," she said.

Hayato nodded fiercely. "You know, another band that has a really great drummer is—"

Dino felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately turned on his heels, only to see the thick beard of an old ally.

"Cavallone!" the man said.

Dino smiled warmly. "Rossi! Ciao!" They hugged.

Tsuna watched in horror, then embarrassment, then frustration as the bearded man got Dino talking and led him away. He rolled his eyes and brought his elbow down hard on the table. Now he was back to sitting alone at this impeccably set table, no one to talk to, nothing to do but glare at the girl hogging time with his date.

Hayato laughed again. Tsuna swooned and cringed at the same time. Hayato had such a nice laugh, soft and breathy and almost afraid. Tsuna hated the thought of someone else hearing it, eliciting it. And Hayato's smile too, his small and graceful smile – that also should have belonged to only Tsuna. And his brooding green eyes, his flawless skin, his elegant face, his perfect hands, _get away from him_.

…

Hayato and Celeste would have made a beautiful couple.

Tsuna let out a heavy-hearted sigh.

The woman at the table adjacent to his leaned toward him. "Not having a good night so far?"

"Not really," he said. He faced her. He hadn't noticed her there before – she must have just sat down. She had short hair, obviously dyed blonde, and her dress was Versace. "You?"

She cocked her head noncommittally. Tsuna nodded. There was a short pause as she glanced around, and he focused on his shoes.

"So what organization are you representing?" she asked. She had noticed how broken his Italian sounded and started to speak in English instead, a language in which Tsuna was proficient enough.

"I'm the Vongola Family boss, Tsuna Sawada."

"You? Really?" She had a mixed smile on her face, to which he skeptically replied, "Yes."

"Huh. I'm sorry but I honestly expected someone more intimidating." She coughed and chuckled. "From the stories I heard of you, I thought you had to be some big, tall, beefy guy with an evil look in his eyes, but you're not that way at all."

On the inside, Tsuna was taken aback. _What kind of stories have you heard, exactly? _But he smiled humbly. "Yeah, I am about as opposite of 'big, tall, beefy and evil' as a guy can get," he said. "Believe me, though, you're not the first person to form a different impression." Then he shook his head. "I'm sorry. You are…?"

"Monica Gatti," she said. "I'm the boss of the Gatti Family." She stuck her hand out for Tsuna to shake.

The Vongola was a very influential and popular family and he never felt surprised when strangers knew about it (or about him), but he had never heard of the Gatti Family before. He still talked to her as if he had. Tsuna and Monica made small talk for several minutes, on food and the décor of the room and other things.

During a lull in the conversation, Tsuna stole a glance at Hayato and Celeste – _still_ talking. Chatting with Monica had temporarily rid of his jealous feelings, and even made him feel accomplished in taking Dino's suggestion of "meeting new people", but now that he saw Hayato again, he got impatient.

Monica ducked her head in Tsuna's direction and kept her eyes on where he was looking. She smiled widely. "Oh, yes," she said as if she had just discovered something, "That's my niece, Celeste. I brought her as my guest tonight."

Tsuna's heart stopped. He whipped his head around and looked the smiling Monica in the eyes. He glanced rigidly back and forth between Monica and Celeste a few times.

"She's beautiful," he said, trying to hide the sinking feeling in his chest.

"Isn't she?" Monica said. "See, she's my sister's daughter. I have a son of my own who never talks to me – but my sister and I are very close, so Celeste is almost like my own daughter. I love her dearly. She's a great girl."

"Really…" As much as it hurt to hear about her, he wanted to know more.

"Oh, yes. She's in all advanced classes at her school. Brilliant!"

_She must be really smart. Hayato is a genius. _Tsuna's smile was fading. _I've never been in an advanced class in my life._

"She plays the guitar, too, and sings like an angel."

_Hayato can sing and play the piano. I have no musical talent at all._

"And she's actually staying with me for the next few days because her sixteenth birthday is in a week and we're going to the Caribbean to celebrate."

_She's a world-traveler. Hayato is too. I've never been outside Japan._

He recalled Haru's explanations of the zodiac. _If her birthday is in a week, then she's a Taurus. Taurus is an earth sign, and Hayato is a Virgo, which is also an earth sign… so they're compatible. I'm a Libra. Libras and Virgos aren't compatible._

"Of course, she does have a bit of a wild side to her. I don't know if you can see it from here, but one day she came home with a tattoo of a barracuda on her back. Her mother flipped out, haha!"

_Hayato's pretty rebellious too. I'm really lame…_

Tsuna's chest visibly deflated.

_She is perfect for him._

_She could so easily take him away from me._

_I have no chance, compared to her._

Monica put her elbow over the back of her chair and grinned mischievously at the Vongola boss. "I'm sorry. I just love to brag about her. Do you fancy her or something?" she said.

He swallowed his disappointment as best he could, blushed out of embarrassment and averted his eyes. "W-well, uh…"

Just then, a loud screech came over the speakers. Everyone in the room flung their attention to the portly man with the microphone in his hand.

The man cleared his throat, paused with his mouth open, and then said, "The food will be brought out shortly, so please take your seats."

Tsuna let out the breath stuck in his throat, with great relief. Saved from the awkward conversation with Monica Gatti.

Monica bit her lip. "I'll talk to you later, then, Signore Sawada," she said.

"Definitely," Tsuna said. They both went back to sitting properly. He looked over to the hors d'oeuvre table, only to see Hayato and Celeste walking toward him. They parted ways before coming within speaking distance of Tsuna or Monica.

Tsuna's skin felt hot.

Hayato pulled out the chair to Tsuna's right and sat down. "Hi, Tenth," he said.

A smile formed on Tsuna's face. "Hey." His voice cracked.

Before any other people came to their squared table, Hayato leaned down and kissed his boss' cheek. Tsuna's eyes began to hurt, and his face went red.

A pair of brothers took their places across from them. An elderly couple sat down at one side. Minutes went by.

"Ah, sorry we're a little late," Dino said as he approached the table with his date. "It took some coercing to get Kyoya to come inside."

"Typical," Hayato said, smirking at Hibari.

Tsuna, who had stayed frozen for the past while, suddenly grabbed onto his boyfriend's arm, leaning against his side, and kept such a tight hold of it that Hayato almost considered asking him to let up, for the sake of his blood circulation.

Instead, once the others at the table were occupied with eating, he brought his lips to Tsuna's ears. "Are you feeling okay, Tenth?" he murmured.

He hesitated at first. His eyes got a moist look to them, and he made a worrisome face. "Who was that girl you were talking to earlier?" He couldn't meet Hayato's eyes.

"Oh, that was Celeste Labriola. She's from the Gatti Family," he explained. "We were just talking about music, since it's not every day that I run into someone who likes the same bands I like."

Tsuna blinked. "That's all?" he whimpered, though he didn't sound entirely confident.

"Yes," Hayato said.

But the Vongola boss still sank in his chair, keeping his grip on Hayato's arm.

"Why do you ask?" Hayato asked. He sounded even more concerned now.

Tsuna felt a pain in his chest.

"Because… you looked like you were really getting along."

"Yeah, I guess so," Hayato said. "She's a cool chick."

And there it was. That little smile that meant it all. It flashed onto Hayato's face. Tsuna saw it out of the corner of his eye, and it made everything inside him burn.

Tsuna's eyes squeezed shut.

"Is that all she is?" Harshness came into his quieted tone. "Is that really all she is?"

"Yes." Hayato's voice failed him.

Tsuna faced Hayato, finally, meeting his eyes, the gray-green seas that he could drown in and not mind at all. He could see straight through to the bottom of them.

He could have cried. But he was the opposite-of-big-tall-beefy-and-evil, which already made him weak in the other mafiosi's eyes. Crying in the middle of a crowded gala would definitely not help with that impression.

Hayato was honest. Honest and faithful. He would never leave the Tenth, ever.

Tsuna felt so _stupid_.

"I'm sorry," he breathed. "I got jealous of her. I wanted her to stop talking to you. It's just, she's so pretty and she's smart and she loves music and she's a Taurus and you looked like you were hitting it off and… I was afraid she would make you forget about me, since I'm not as good as she is for you, and I really don't want to lose you."

Hayato's face loosened in shock. He blinked hard.

Then his smile returned. It became bigger until his teeth showed partially.

He glanced downward out of exasperation.

"Tenth…" he said. He let out that sweet, fragile laugh.

"I am really sorry," Tsuna said. "I should have trusted you more, and –"

"No, Tenth, I'm actually happy." He looked back up at him. "I felt the same way about you for years before we were even together – getting jealous when anyone besides me spent time with you, scared that you would leave me behind for someone else because I wasn't good enough."

He took Tsuna's hands. "But I would never leave you, Tenth. Even if you may not think so… you are more than perfect for me."

A smile grew across Tsuna's face. And they both laughed.

_We're so silly_, Tsuna thought.


End file.
